I thought I'd start a new thread rather than bombarding Calvinx with questions or Hijacking the existing thread regarding Tig delivery, if Mark (Calvinx) want's to contribute to this thread that would be great as he seems knowledgable on the TIG front, but i think it's unfair if we keep hassling him with info on how to use the thing (it's a bit like selling someone a car and then being asked constant questions about how to drive it)

Firstly I'm very pleased with my purchases (TIG & welding mask), I took them into work on Sunday and set them up (I don't have Argon or a good electrical supply in my garage at the moment). I started out on mild steel and found this quite easy to master, although I've done some gas welding in the past I am a little rusty and the finished welds were decent quality but a bit "pigeon sh*tty."

I then moved on to stainless and again found it quite easy to get the nack of with quite decent quality results in the end.

Now the tricky bit, ALLY, I got some offcuts (18 SWG) of ally and the first attempt was actually quite good, although it was running a weld up a single piece of ally, when i tried to join two pieces the edge of both pieces just seemed to collapse away and subsequent twiddling the knobs only made matters worse.

So in the light of this I have a few questions that perhaps other Greenbird owners (or indeed any TIG users) could perhaps help.

1. The LED readout, does this only show the actual current when welding or does it react to movements in the current control

2. Tungsten size, I'm using the smallest of the provided collets (2.4mm?) but is there a good case for buying smaller collets (1.6mm) or indeed a smaller torch? Are there any guidelines as to what size tungsten for what size material?

3. foot pedal, I think I understand that the foot pedal varies the current, and that you should reduce the current as you weld ally, but does it reduce it down from the "knob setting" or does it increase it above this at full power, eg if the knob is set to 100 amps does the pedal give 100 amps at full travel and reduce it down as you back off or does it give say +20% at full travel and then back it off?

4 When welding ally the end of the tungsten should be ball shaped, but once i start welding it very quickly becomes quite ragged looking (like an upside down crown) is this normal or should i be tweaking something? I am using white/grey coloured Tungstens for Ally and red coloured for steel and stainless.

Any other general setup tips would be appreciated, I hope to practice again tonight so may have another raft of questions tomorrow

1. The LED's appear to show the current amperage, if you set the slope up/down settings you can see the LED show how much current its supplying durring those phases.

2. Have a read of
This

3. The foot pedal overrides the knob control so 100% pedal is 100% of the welders power regardless of the knob position

4. See link from 2.

On point 4;

I had the electrode start to do this 'spiky crown' to start with and I think it is caused by being afraid to use too much current. Once I had a good blast the tungsten melted into the ball shape and welding was much easier.

In terms of edges collapsing are you using filler rods to build up the weld pool. I've been practicing since Friday and have managed to build quite a nice weld run on butt weld 16g ally.


I got a collets for 1.6mm and 2.4mm tungstens with my welder.

Cheers

[Edited on 5/2/07 by SeaBass]

Welding steel you can get away with the torch at an angle, ideally it should be 15 degree's from vertical (I believe) but you can lean it more to see the work so do !

This is a bad habit when you weld ali, its not as forgiving so try and hold the torch vertical/no more than 15 degree's this really concentrates the heat and you should find it much easier.

Regards Mark

Having not seen the sets i cant comment on the settings but did you get different types of tungsten ? red tip for mild steel and stainless and white tips for ali.
and as seabass said the best way to sharpen your tungsten for ali is indeed to give it a blast. if you have electrode positive and negetive switch to negetive to sharpen and then back to positive to weld.
and get some wire wool or something like that and rub the top layer off so the high frequency cut through easier.

i have the mitec and have been using 1.6 zirconuim electrodes for 18g ally with good results, ive found you need the torch vertical if not angle back away from the direction you are welding, especially with thinner welding rods because they seem to melt before getting near the pool if the torch is angled towards them.
other than that it is all down to current control, making sure the electrode, rods and material are nice and clean and a steady hand.
another note, when welding 18g ally the machine is bordering on zero power when the material gets hot so maybe it is best to do short runs and let the piece cool down in between.

quote:

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Originally posted by SeaBass
I've been practicing since Friday

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http://www.millerwelds.com/education/TIGhandbook/

taught me a few things when i bought mine
worth a download

quote:

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Originally posted by dave r
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/TIGhandbook/

taught me a few things when i bought mine
worth a download

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quote:

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Originally posted by gazza285

quote:

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Originally posted by SeaBass
I've been practicing since Friday

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Hark! The voice of experience!

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quote:

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Originally posted by dave r
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/TIGhandbook/

taught me a few things when i bought mine
worth a download

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Ok Thanks for the reply's, have had another go tonight and have had better results.

To answer one of my own questions the LED display does not show the current until you press the trigger, obviously you cannot watch this whilst welding, but you can pull the trigger without striking an arc to see what you've set it at.

The article that Gav links to actually recommends using red tip (thoriated?) tungstens in an inverter based machine for welding ally and i found this to be better, I also found it a bit better not to use the footpedal at this point on my learning curve as it's a bit too sensitive (OK I'm too ham fisted or should that be ham-footed!), perhaps i need more practice.

My collets appear to be 2.4 and 3.2 mm so i'll pop out and get some 1.6mm collets and give them a try.

I probably have been leaning the torch too much so will also try this next time.

Once again many thanks for the reply's

[Edited on 5/2/07 by fatfranky]